Occasional Conformity Act

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Occasional Conformity Act, 1791. This Act prevented nonconformists from taking communion in an Anglican church to qualify for national and municipal office according to the corporation and Test Acts. Three previous attempts (1702, 1703, and 1704) had failed because the large Tory majority in the Commons (who aimed at depriving the Whigs of the electoral support of the nonconformists) had been frustrated by the Whig majority in the Lords. The less severe 1711 bill passed because the Whigs agreed to it in exchange for the support of the Tory earl of Nottingham (the instigator of all four bills) against the Harley ministry's peace policy. The Act was repealed in 1719.

Clyve Jones